Jacob Resneck

WASHINGTON, D.C. Politico is such a brand-new news organization, clutter hasn’t had a chance to pile up on the reporters’ desks. Each desk was tidy; I was horrified. Three weeks into this venture, former Washington Post staffer of 21 years John Harris led us into a sleek conference room and began to pontificate on the…

Don’t ask me how or why, but the International Center for Journalists chose me as one of two American journalists to travel to Austria for a six-week placement with a major Austrian newspaper. My employer, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise was generous enough to grant me a leave of absence to work with the Salzburger Nachrichten…

SARANAC LAKE, New York It was a such a simple, fool-proof plan, only a genius at incompetence could foil it. And when it comes to ingenious incompetence, I’m your man. Canadian National has been sending a lot of freight down through Vermont along the New England Central, I’d heard, through to White River Junction. Why…

SARANAC LAKE, New York Well I finally done did it. I landed me a writin’ gig. For a newspaper no less. Relocated on a week’s notice to the Adirondacks where I’m a staff writer for a small daily tucked up in ‘dem mountains, just shy of Quebec. It’s a groovy area, and I’m liking it…

“And now we play The Waiting Game. Aw, The Waiting Game sucks — let’s play Hungry Hungry Hippos!” — Homer J. Simpson STOWE, Vermont — Ah, yes The Waiting Game. I’ve gotten to know the rules well this past month. Not to say I haven’t been active. On the contrary, since leaving Brooklyn I’ve hitched…

BROOKLYN, New York — Capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Amman is just over a three hour drive from Syria’s capital Damascus. Both countries operate and maintain a fleet of comfortable air-conditioned buses that are efficient and inexpensive. Or you can take the train, which is even cheaper. Most Syrians give the train a…

DAMASCUS, Syria — While in Aleppo I had the pleasure to meet Syria’s “shadow tourism minister” a 24-year-old university student named Hassan.While the Syrian government fails to counter the Bush administration’s characterization of a rogue state terrorist training ground and other nonsense, Mr. Hassan spends hours on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree chat board extolling…

One evening, after a hard day’s toil in the vineyards of Southern Illinois, I got an email from old friend about a conference being assembled in Lebanon. The idea was to bring together six American and six Middle Eastern journalists for a week and set ’em loose on one another. Or something like that. All…